Butterfly Cards

I love the Butterfly Basic stamp set from the Stampin' Up Occasions catalog. Then when you team it up with the Butterflies Thinlits Dies you end up with these lovely cards.

It comes with 11 stamps as has so many different elements to it.

Don't you just love the honeycomb background? And the Sending Wishes your Way can be used for so many occasions.

 

Cookie Crazy Recipe

Since I've had a couple of people interested in the recipe that I served at my last Stampin' Up Event I thought I would share it plus and minus a few adaptions that I will make in the future.
Cookie Crazy Cupcakes

 makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cookie Dough Filling

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup milk
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2½ cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Cupcake

• 1 box vanilla cake mix, prepared according to package directions
• 24 Oreo Cookies, plus more for garnish, if desired.

Frosting

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup Biscoff cookie spread or peanut butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 3-4 Tbsp milk

Instructions

For Cookie Dough Filling

1. In stand mixer cream together butter and both sugars until fluffy, turn mixer to low and add in milk and vanilla, speed mixer back up to medium for approximately 30 seconds until smooth. Turn mixer back down to low and stir in flour and salt until incorporated. Fold in mini chocolate chips.
2. Scoop out dough in heaping tablespoon sized portions and roll into balls. Place on a parchment or wax paper lined baking sheet and place in freezer for at least an hour.

Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Prepare cupcake batter according to package directions. Line 2 (12 count) muffin tins with cupcake liners and place an Oreo cookie in the bottom of each.
3. Fill each tin with ⅛ cup of cake batter. (This will fill the cupcake liner approx ⅔ full)
4. Place a ball of frozen cookie dough in the batter. It will not be submerged.
5. Bake the cupcakes for 20 minutes. The edges will be set and golden.
6. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

1. Cream butter and Biscoff or peanut butter in your stand mixer until smooth. Turn mixer to low and slowly add in your powdered sugar and milk. Turn mixer to medium and mix until smooth.
2. Frost cupcakes.

You can find the recipe here as well and I highly recommend you check out her blog. She has a wonderful blog and you can print off the recipe right from there.

Now as most of you know that follow me, 'cause I've said it before, recipes are like the speed limit and just a guideline and are not to be followed specifically so here are my changes.

I used caramel cake mix.

I accidently bought double stuffed Oreo cookies which took up most of the cupcake tin, so I pulled the cookie apart and only used the half without the cream filling.

I placed the cookie on top of the Oreo then added the cake batter.

I used my cookie dough scoop so I didn't have to roll them to get them round.

I also didn't want to wait for an hour so just froze them while I mixed the cake.

I used Biscoff for my frosting and it was so yummy, I wouldn't even consider using peanut butter. I can and have eaten it by the spoonful right out of the jar.

You can find Biscoff cookie spread in most grocery stores next to the peanut butter. 

I found that the frosting was way to soft to pipe onto the cupcakes in spite of  only using about 1 TBSP of milk so I added more sugar so next time I will only use 1/2 butter.

I also found that with the cookie dough in there, the cake batter does rise as much as regular cupcakes so I would be a lot more generous as mine were very small.

The recipe says it make 24 but I think it would easily make 30 I ended up with 24 regular cupcake and 12 mini and still had leftover cake batter.  Don't worry it didn't go to waste.  I also ended up with a lot of left over cookie dough. Another tip- just go ahead and eat the left over cookie dough as it's much better raw than baked. And for all you fanatics out there that worry about eating raw eggs, there are any so you have my permission to eat it all without baking, just not at one sitting.

I also had a ton of leftover frosting so I think there would still be plenty with half the butter and perhaps a little less sugar.

Stampin' Up Event

I had my Stampin' Up event this week and completely and totally forgot to take pictures of the lovey group that came, so you will just have to trust me when I say everyone had a fabulous time,  perhaps I shouldn't speak for everyone and just say I had a fabulous time.
Here are the projects we made.

And of course there was food involved.

 

 I made caramel chocolate chip cookie cupcakes with Biscoff cookie spread frosting.

I served the best looking ones and we are eating the ones I didn't put much effort into.
An Oreo cookie is placed on the bottom then a spoonful of chocolate chip cookie dough on top of the cookie and topped off with caramel cake batter and the result is a delightful mouthful of yummy goodness. Now before you start emailing me asking where in the world can you find caramel cake mix I will tell you the whole sorted story.  It used to be readily available every where cake mixes were sold, then it became hard to find, then one day it was no where to be found. I spend about 6 months searching stores the internet, my friends cupboards,(not really) now I know some of you that know me well are wondering 'Cindy, why are you spending your precious time looking for cake mix when you don't even like cake?'.  True I don't like cake but by now I have collected several bar and cookie recipes that use caramel cake and I do love to bake bars and cookies.... so anyway, where was I?  Oh yeah, I finally called Duncan Hines to tell them how disappointed I was that they stopped making this wonderful product only to find out they still make it. They couldn't understand why I couldn't find it in stores so they asked for my zip code to tell me where I could get my hands on some and it turns out in Minnesota they only sell it at Hy Vee stores.  I told them there are no Hy Vee stores within 60 miles of me, so could they please send me some?  No, they couldn't but they could send me some coupons and suggested that I check with grocery stores in my area and perhaps they could order it for me. No they wouldn't , even when I told them I would take a case of it. If your still with me here I bet you are wondering, where did she get her cake mix, yeah, yeah, I getting there.  one day my husband and I were driving somewhere, luckily for you I don't' remember where or that would be another story, anyway out of nowhere there was a Hy Vee store so I shouted stop the car I need caramel cake mix. He dropped me off and I dashed in and bought every box on the shelf (there was only three).  So if you came to my event today you should feel very special as that was my last box. And if you happen to come across any will you pick up a box or two for me?

For the Thursday night group I had made wine gummy bears. 

That was one of those things I found on pinterest that I went back and unpinned after I tried them. I try a lot of things that I find on pinterest, food, crafts, tips ect. and about 27 percent of them turn out to be flops. But they look cute, don't they?

Hoarding crafts

I came across this video that could be me and I know a lot of you guys can relate, so just click here and have a look see.
Here is a perfect example - double side tape.

This is the tape I used for years and years, it's double sided and works just fine.

Then along came these handy dandy dispensers, what a great time saving invention they were.
 but wait .... these are so small and don't hold a lot of tape.

So I must have one of these, it's going to save me time and money.

Score tape, oh yes, it much cheaper so now I will have more money to spend on other things.

And then there is to super tape that every paper crafter must have.  Once you have it down, it is not coming up.

Sympathy Cards

I am in need some sympathy cards so I thought I would play around with the blendabilities but needless to say my artistic ability is pretty much void. They are so much nicer if you get the shading down right which I have never been able to master. However, these markers are still really fun to use.

Mini Treat Bag

Here is another bag I made with the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies.This one I stamped with the wood grain stamp, added a doily that I dipped in coffee to take away some of the whiteness, then topped with a flower.

I have a few flowers on hand - just in case.

I took some cardstock and just stamped with random stamps all over the paper. Then

last summer when I was working the Farmers Market and had a lot of down time I took them along with my punches and just went to town punching. I then burnished and curled the edges before layering them and attaching a brad.

Bits and pieces

In preparation for my next Stampin' Up Event I'm trying to tidy up a bit and in the process I'm finding bit's and pieces of projects that went awry and this is one of those projects.

They were so cute in the Stampin' Up Catalog and not so cute in person. They are made with the simply pressed clay and stamp sets so they are light as a feather and would be perfect for going through the mail.

The biggest problem with them is when they dried they didn't dry round or flat they dried all wonky so they look much worst in person. Any one have any ideas of what I can do with these bad boys?

Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies

I just received my Stampin' Up order from the seasonal catalog and am having so much fun. 

 

 This die set makes these adorable little bags that measure approximately 3.75 x 5.25.

 They are just the perfect size for a little card or tag and would make a fun little treat holder for any holiday.

They come with 10 more dies other than the two dies it takes to make the little bag. I'll be experimenting with those more next week so stay tuned.

When I get lax about posting on my blog my friend Millie reminds me and keeps me on my toes.  So this post is for her.  I went to a fellow Stampin' Up demonstrator's home for one of her events so today I will feature the three projects. The first one is a little bag. It's very similar to the one she did at Christmas time a while back but this time she had a Valentine theme.

I wasn't in Valentine mode so I just made a little thank you bag.
The next project was a Valentine card and once again I switched mine up.

I took mine home to finish it and went with a chalk board effect.

Lastly we worked with the Stampin' blendabilities markers.  If you like to color, and I do, these are really fun. They come in a three pack so you get one light, one medium and one dark of each color wave.